I saw a shimmering light
by Jocose
Summary: Driving back to Cardiff in a heavy rain storm, Jack Harkness and Toshiko Sato go to investigate what they presume is Rift activity, but they and the team end up trapped in an environment none of them could have expected.  Background info in my profile
1. Chapter 1

Jack peered through the windscreen, the heavy rain wasn't making driving exactly easy! It had been a beautifully sunny day, then suddenly the heavens had darkened and rain began pelting the SUV so hard the droplets were bouncing noisily off the bonnet.

Toshiko sat in the passenger seat beside him, holding her PDA, hand twisted awkwardly as she attempted to get a descent amount of light on the screen so she could read her notes.

Glancing quickly towards her, he then checked his wing mirror, the distant headlights danced and blurred in the rain soaked glass.

"Do you think there was anything we could make use of?" He enquired. The conference had been practically useless for him, but he had noticed Toshiko showing an interest in various pieces of technology being showcased, making him hopeful that perhaps the trip hadn't been a _total_ waste of time.

Shrugged and sighed, still trying to read the screen of her PDA. "Not really, most of it was just downgraded versions of what we already have and from what little they were saying, I don't think it would be _that_ compatible with the hardware we're already running, most of the alien tech. **definitely** wouldn't like it."

"So, it was a waste of time?"

"Not _entirely_, I mean it's always useful to know what new systems are coming and I need to be sure that we can over ride them and they can't hack us... "

"You think we're still secure?"

Toshiko straightened up and glanced out of the side window. "Yes, I would say so, I mean things move pretty quickly these days, but I've not heard of _anything_ that's even close to matching what we have."

Finally satisfied by her answer, Jack turned his full attention back to the atrocious driving conditions that surrounded them.

Toshiko stared out of the rain drenched window, the rhythmic sound of the windscreen wipers making her eyelids droop.

Suddenly something caught her attention, "What was that?" she asked, staring back the way they had come.

"What was what?" Jack asked absently, checking his rear view mirror briefly.

"There was a light, I'm sure..."

"Not around here, just hills and sheep, probably a reflection."

Toshiko shrugged, _whatever_ it was, was long gone. Glancing through the windscreen she yawned then stared, the light was back again. "There," she yelled, pointing then twisting to look backwards as they passed.

Jack immediately checked each of his mirrors in turn. "There's nothing out there, can't be."

"Unless something has come through the rift," Toshiko glanced across at Jack nervously, "We would have heard something though wouldn't we?"

Jack steered the SUV onto the hard shoulder. "Well, I would hope so, but ..." He peered out of the side window, "You sure it was behind us and then here?"

"Yep, definitely, no doubt," she said, nodding positively and then waiting expectantly for Jack to decide what to do.

Jack glanced at the SatNav, "Okay, there's a turning coming up, we'll go take a look."

Toshiko brightened up immediately, "Right and I'll see if they've picked up anything at the Hub."

The road rapidly turned into little more than a rough trackway. Jack sighed as he fought the wheel for control, "Anything?" he demanded, bouncing up and down and trying to keep the SUV going in a straight line.

Clinging to the door handle with one hand, she tried to talk on her mobile without hitting herself on the side of the head with it. "Yep, okay, thanks Ianto... yeah if anything does crop up..."

"Nothing?"

"Nope," she sighed and ended the call.

Suddenly the light appeared directly in front of them, Jack stood on the brake and they skidded to a halt. "Where the hell did it go?" He demanded, peering out over the bonnet.

Tosh twisted around in her seat. "Maybe it went under and behind?" She suggested, trying to see if it was visible through the back window.

Jack glanced in his rear view mirror then the wing mirror, shaking his head, "Not as far as I can tell."

Rubbing her hand across her lips, she looked nervously at Jack, "So you saw it this time right? We couldn't have both imagined it?"

"There's definitely something down here." Nodding, he powered up the engine and they drove slowly forward. "If this damned rain would stop we might..."

He never got the chance to finish the sentence, almost as if it was listening to him the rain suddenly stopped completely. Glancing slightly sideways at Tosh he grimaced, "Convenient!"

Tosh bit her lip nervously, "Wasn't it just!" Then she suddenly yelled, "There," pointing to the right.

The SUV nudged forward a little faster, then Jack spotted a gap in the hedge and drove through it.

"Stop! **Now **" Toshiko yelled urgently and Jack immediately stood on the brakes once again.

Toshiko tapped her PDA and grimaced, "There's something... or at least I thought..."

"Okay," Jack drawled, pulled the hand brake and leaned back in his seat. "I think we've gone far enough, lets get the others out here with extra equipment."

Toshiko suddenly grumbled something in Japanese, then thumped the side of her mobile phone with the palm of her hand. Jack glanced over at her, then raised his eyebrows, "I take it that suddenly we're out of contact with the hub?" He commented, not sounding in the least bit surprised.

Nodding, Toshiko turned her phone off and then on again, hoping that perhaps whatever has passed them had disturbed the technology and simply restarting everything would solve the problem- it didn't!

"Okay, so we either sit her until they decide that maybe we need rescuing or we go take a look," Jack said, already reaching for the door handle.

"So, instead of them thinking we need rescuing, we're going to go out and see if we can actually manage to make it so we **really will **need to be?" Toshiko said, watching Jack pushing open the door.

"Yep, something like that. Might as well give them something to do." Peering around him, he walked towards the front of the SUV, trying to use the headlights to pick out a possible path.

"Here we go again," she mumbled under her breath, climbing down and slamming the door behind her. At least the headlights provided reasonable view of the ground in front of them.

Toshiko's mobile phone suddenly began to ring, relieved that it was finally working she answered it. "Hi Ianto. Think so. Jack wants you all out here. Don't know I'll ask." Moving the phone away, she looked over at Jack. "Ianto wants to know if he has to get Owen in?"

Jack considered the options for a moment, Owen was hardly going to be thrilled at being dragged out to look at a grass track. "No, just tell him to bring the back-up equipment out here stat. Not really anything for Owen to do out here yet- well apart from complaining about being dragged out here for nothing."

"Did you hear that? Good. Have you got the co-ordinates? Okay fine, see you in about half an hour?" Cancelling the call, she turned back towards Jack, he must have stepped outside of the light beam she thought, peering into the gloom and trying to pick out his outline. "Jack?" He didn't respond.

As suddenly as it had arrived, the darkness suddenly lifted, leaving Toshiko blinking in the bright sunlight that had replaced it. Where the hell had Jack gone?

Moving cautiously forward, still partially blinded by the sunlight, she suddenly felt as if she was walking on something soft, squinting down at her feet, she stared in surprise. **Sand!**

Jack was sitting on a rock, arms folded across his chest. "Hi. Welcome to... wherever!"

**To be continued...**


	2. Chapter 2

Ianto Jones spent the best part of half an hour moving his car from it's usual parking space into the garage usually reserved for the SUV, then packing as much equipment as he could into the boot and the back seat. Straightening up, he rubbed imaginary dirt from the edge of the seat, eyeing the car rug he had used to protect the upholstery with some scepticism. He didn't like using the back seat as extra boot space, but there really wasn't a lot of choice.

Settling himself in the drivers seat, he made yet another attempt to contact Gwen, this time she answered him.

"Gwen! Just got a call from Tosh, weird lights off the dual carriageway,"

"Right. I'll head for the Hub then, see if anything's got picked up by Jodrell Bank."

"Okay, I'll get in touch soon as I get up there. Oh and Gwen... don't touch the coffee machine, I've just cleaned it out."

"Um, okay, whatever you say," Gwen replied, trying not to sound guilty about her latest attempt to make coffee without using the jar of instant everyone else used when he wasn't around.

"Not that I'm complaining," he said, _not much_! It had taken him two hours to rescue his beloved machine and what was even worse in his eyes, he still couldn't work out how she'd managed to do it!

"'course not," she mumbled in response. "See you later," ending the call, she glanced over at Rhys who was busy loading up their car with pots of paint and assorted somethings called paint pads.

Waving her mobile towards him, she shrugged and mumbled, "Work."

Slamming the boot down with rather more power than it needed, he sighed. "Can't they bloody-well leave us in peace for a couple of hours? I suppose they want you in, do they?"

Gwen nodded in what she hoped looked suitably reluctantly, truth was when Rhys got a decorating fad the further away from him she could get the better.

"Sorry luv, you know how it is..." Aiming her best _forgive me_ expression at her long suffering boyfriend, she waited for him to hopefully say what he always said.

"I know, I know, bloody Torchwood. I'll make a start on my own then shall I?" He glanced towards Gwen, knowing full well she hated decorating, if he was honest, he preferred to make a start on his own anyway.

"You couldn't drop me off on the way back could you?" She asked, trying to sound like he could have said no if he wanted to.

"Yeah, 'course I will. Get in," he sighed loudly and then went to take the shopping trolley back.

* * *

"Don't bother trying to get out again, I tried- waste of time." Jack shrugged, nodding towards the SUV, standing tantalisingly just a few feet away.

"You mean there's some kind of force field?" She said, holding out her hand nervously until her fingers seemed to be pressing against something.

"Whatever it is, It only works one way, you can come through, but you can't get back again."

"Ianto should be on his way, it must be..." she glanced at her watch, stared, then turned her wrist so Jack could see the display- all the numbers read as a zero.

"Well this still works- sort of," he said, indicating his wrist strap, "Unfortunately it doesn't seem to be able to do anything to get us back through."

"So we've just got to hang around and wait," Toshiko said, sighing and sitting down on the rock beside Jack.

"Looks like it," he replied, glancing around him. "I spy with my little eye, something beginning with... " Jack opened his mouth to say _S._

"If you say _S _I'll kick you," Toshiko said, giving him a warning look.

Jack gave her a huffy look and shook his head, "I was not going to say _S_ I was going to say," he glanced around again. "B"

"B?" Tosh looked baffled, "As in bush?" she queried.

"As in building," he replied nodding behind her.

"Where the hell did that come from?"

Jack shrugged, "Same place as the force field I guess. Just wish Ianto would get a move on."

"But if he comes through he's not going to get back either is he?" protested Tosh. "And I couldn't see you before I walked through to this side, so we can't warn him."

* * *

Ianto drove slowly down the dirt track towards the SUV, cursing under his breath at what this was doing to his car's suspension. Stopping mid-bounce, he sighed loudly and glanced out of the side window, the track was muddy and rutted the grass edge showed signs of the heavy tyres of the SUV as Jack had clearly struggled to keep it going on a reasonably straight course.

Opening the door, he cautiously moved out onto the muddy ground, slammed it shut and then made his way towards the back of the SUV.

"Jack? Tosh?"

He took his phone out of his pocket, meaning to ring and find out where they were, but his phone stubbornly refused to get a signal. "Damn!" It was at that moment that he noticed that the rear lights were on. It was broad daylight, why would they have needed to do that? Okay so there had been heavy rain judging by the track he had just driven down, but he couldn't believe that they would leave the battery to drain like that.

Going to the front of the SUV he was surprised to find it unlocked, looking around nervously, now convinced that something was very wrong, he quickly released the back and went to move the equipment into it from his car.

Once everything had been transferred, he decided to turn the SUV in case they had to move out quickly, neither Jack or Toshiko had returned and that didn't feel like a good sign, not to mention the fact that he was unable to contact either of them or the Hub.

Toshiko and Jack watched Ianto as he arrived and looked for them, there seemed no point in shouting, he couldn't hear them, all they could do was hope that he didn't come any nearer to the barrier.

"Well he's brought all the equipment, pity it's on the other side of the field," Toshiko said quietly, glancing at Jack, who merely nodded.

"Yeah well, at least he isn't on this side either, it's bad enough with..." Jack stopped mid-sentence, as Ianto climbed into the driivng seat, forgetting that he couldn't see or hear him, he waved his arms and began yelling. "Oh no no no , Ianto NO." Moving towards the barrier he looked helplessly back towards Toshiko. "If he comes too far this way..."

The words were barely out of Jack's mouth before Ianto turned on the ignition and drove straight towards the force field.

One second he was driving towards open ground, the next moment Jack and Toshiko were in front of him yelling at him to back up, immediately ramming the SUV into reverse, he accelerated, then realised that he was still going forward, he hit the brake as hard as he could, but it was too late. The SUV continued to move slowly forward, he even tried turning off the engine but it made no difference, it just kept moving until it was clear of the barrier, then it stopped.

Ianto stared through the windscreen then waved the car keys slowly at Jack. "I even tried killing the engine," he said, dolefully.

"I think someone is very keen to get us here... or there," he nodded to a large building in the distance."

"Never seen that before," Ianto replied, pushing open the door and getting out, then squinting towards it. "It's not exactly something you'd miss is it?"

Toshiko groaned, she knew what the next comment was going to be!_ Let's go and take a look_

"Maybe we should stay here and wait for Owen or Gwen to turn up?" she suggested, none too hopefully.

"I managed to get hold of Gwen before I left, she should be at the Hub by now," Ianto slammed the door closed, not wanting to mention that he had tried to make contact with her when he had arrived but hadn't been able to.

"Okay well maybe we should wait and see if the cavalry arrives first, stay close until we're sure that no one else is coming through." Jack leaned against the front of the SUV, peering around."I spy with my little eye... " Seeing the reaction of the other two, he shrugged and folded his arms across his chest. "Alright already, I don't spy." He said defensively before they could object, then staring down at his feet.

After silently watching Jack for several seconds Ianto and Tosh exchanged glances, what were they supposed to do now?

"Maybe I should see if I can get anything working?" Toshiko suggested, moving hesitantly towards the SUV.

"Good idea,"Jack replied, not looking up.

Ianto watched as she opened the door and settled herself, keyboard across her knees. "So, what now?" He asked quietly, looking at the same place on the floor that Jack was.

Jack shrugged. "We wait."

**To be continued...**


	3. Chapter 3

Gwen Cooper glanced nervously at the various screens on Toshiko Sato's workstation, each one showed what appeared to be a different program that had suddenly triggered and were busily displaying vast amounts of data, she had seen one of them in action before (it warned for unusual weather patterns) but the others...

Going back to her desk, she grabbed her mobile and rang everyone's number in turn, Owen was the only one that connected, but as usual he was illusive as hell, she sighed set the phone to keep dialling his number then put it on hands free, sat down and stared vacantly at the mug of coffee that she had hurriedly provided herself with.

"**What?**"

The phone had re-dialled so many times she hadn't noticed when it finally succeeded in getting a response.

"_Owen_!" she said, momentarily surprised.

"_Yes_," he said, drawling the word slowly and then taking a breath. "Well, last time I bothered to look it was, would you like me to check just to be on the safe side? "

Gwen scowled at the phone, "Well as I can't imagine anyone else sounding like that, don't bother."

"Oh dear!" Owen's voice mocked back, "Somebody got out of bed the wrong side- or was it just the wrong bed?"

Biting her lip, she snatched at the phone, "You bloody-well wish," she yelled back.

Owen winced and then smirked, "That bad?" He said, amusement very evident in his tone of voice. "You can't say I didn't warn you."

It was at that point that Gwen suddenly noticed that something sounded odd. "You in the bathroom?" she asked.

"I though you'd never notice," his voice purred back. "In fact, I'm standing here, stark-bollock -naked ..."

"At least make a vague attempt at professionalism, " she retorted, dropping the phone back onto the desk as if it was red-hot. "Why can't you answer it in the kitchen or somewhere?"

"I can't answer it in the kitchen or somewhere, 'cos I don't usually keep it in the kitchen or somewhere, it's always in the bathroom," he replied, then waited for the inevitable response.

"I know I'm going to regret asking... why do you keep your phone in the bathroom?"

"Well," he said, then paused deliberately waiting for the sound that she always made just before she lost patience with something and started yelling. "Jack kept reading the riot act about me turning it off, so now I don't... I just stick it in the bathroom and shut the door so I can't hear it."

"You **what,**" she yelled back. "Get your bloody arse over here right now, work Owen, you know that thing that pays you a wage?"

Owen winced as Gwen's decibel level doubled. "If you insist. What do they charge you with these days for driving through Cardiff naked? Do us a favour, don't take too long bailing me out, those cells are bloody cold."

Gwen swore loudly and cancelled the call, slamming back hard against the back of her chair she glared at the phone, **Owen bloody Harper**, who the hell did he think he was?

Owen smirked, putting his mobile into his pocket as he walked rapidly down the interlinked corridors towards the Hub, he loved it when he got the chance to wind someone up, Ianto was favourite (as ever) but when he was in the mood whoever was around would do.

Pausing by the side entrance, to the Hub, he listened to Gwen as she grumbled away to herself, then cautiously moved past the rolling door and towards the steps, stopped briefly then moved up to the platform, leaning casually against the back of Toshiko's chair, he suddenly announced, " So what's all the fuss about then?"

Startled, Gwen, almost choked, coughing and spilling the coffee from her mouth, she glared sideways at Owen. "How the hell did you get here?"

Owen folded his arms across his chest and considered the question. "Well let's see, I came though the outer door, then down the corridors and then... erm I wouldn't throw that if I were you," he said pointing towards the mug in her hand. "You know how attached to that one Ianto is, which reminds me... did he manage to sort out the machine?" he enquired, glancing towards it.

"Yes," she snapped back, banging the mug down hard onto her desk.

"Thank gawd for that! When I left last night I wasn't sure if he was swearing or crying, mind you it could have been both, hard to tell with Welsh."

"There's nothing wrong with Welsh," Gwen responded defensively.

"Never said there was," he mumbled vaguely, then noticed all the computer readouts on Toshiko's workstation. "Bloody Nora! What the hell's going on?"

Gwen stood up, all animosity forgotten. "I don't know, looks like some new stuff Tosh has been working on, I only recognise the one."

Owen slowly looked from screen to screen, trying to make some kind of sense of the information displayed. "That one could be to do with possible rift activity, she was saying something about picking up different frequencies and trying to track them... I think," he murmured, peering at the scrolling list of numbers. "Heard anything from the others?"

Gwen shook her head. "Ianto said he'd ring when he got there, but I've not heard anything yet."

"Anything on the trackers?" Moving towards Gwen's desk, not wanting to touch anything that could disturb any of Toshiko's programs that had activated, he looked towards the monitor on her desk.

"There was briefly, I wasn't here and Ianto was already on his way when I arrived, but I checked back in the log and I've got him as far as the dual carriageway and the place he turned off but then the signal suddenly stops and his mobile doesn't seem to be working either." She glanced at Owen, clearly wanting to know what he thought they should do next.

Owen thought for a couple of seconds, whichever way you looked at it, it wasn't looking good. "Okay, you stay here, monitor as much as you can, I'll take..." he glanced back at Toshiko's workstation then went over and retrieved her earpiece. "With luck this will work when everything else doesn't." Not that it was likely, but there weren't a lot of options left.

"They may need medical help, so it's best if I go."He added, when he thought she as going to argue with him about which one of them should go. Heading towards the autopsy room he called back. "Are there any of those miniature trackers left we were trying out on Weevils the other month?"

"What, you mean the ones they kept finding and swallowing?" Gwen asked, checking through one of her desk drawers and then going into Jack's office.

"Yeah, those are the ones and an elastic band."

Throwing anything he thought might be needed onto the autopsy table, he grabbed one of his rucksacks and dumped everything into it. then went back up the stairs and towards the armoury. "Any luck?" he yelled as he crossed the Hub and punched in the access code to open the door.

"Yep, got one, how big an elastic band?" she shouted back, rummaging under Jack's scattered paperwork for the desk tidy that was usually there. "Where the hell is it?" She grumbled, then finally gave up and tried the drawers. "How come Jack's desk is in such a mess? Ianto's usually all over it as soon as Jack puts as much as a postage stamp down on it.!"

Owen selected his gun , checked it and then slipped it into his jacket pocket, dropped the ammunition into his bag and headed back towards Gwen. "Probably busy with the coffee machine," he replied, then grinned as she came out of Jack's office, glaring at him.

"This do?" she asked, dangling an elastic band in mid air.

"Yeah, should do, thanks." Taking them from her, he dropped his bag onto the settee then went onto the autopsy landing, his back still turned towards her. Putting the tracker into the pocket of his jeans, he then unzipped the flies and began wrapping the band around the pocket lining. "Right, if I get searched with luck they won't find the tracker. Presuming of course that it is a _somebody_ and not just the Rift playing silly buggers."

Gwen nodded, then gave him a nervous smile. "Be careful," he said, almost embarrassed at herself for saying it, she looked away, trying to give the impression that she was checking something.

"Don't I always," he replied offhandedly, "Soon as I hit the carriageway I'll keep talking, probably be utter gibberish, but if it _is_ the Rift should give you a pretty close fix on exactly where the problem is."

Arriving by his car, Owen tapped his earpiece, "You hear me okay?" He asked.

"Loud and clear," she responded.

"Great." Unlocking his car, he threw his bag onto the front passenger seat and prepared to drive off. "Let's get this show on the road, shall we?"

Backing out of the parking space, he drove off to join the stream of early evening traffic as it headed out of Cardiff.

**To be continued...**


	4. Chapter 4

Jack Harkness leaned against the front wing of the SUV and stared into the distance, trying to make out details on the building lurking just too far away (almost as if it was waiting for them). He could hear the occasional outburst of Japanese that presumably included expletives intermixed with frustrated sighs and annoyed mumbles.

Ianto was standing alone, arms folded across his chest, gazing blankly at the sandy ground. Occasionally he looked up, then gave the bumper of his car an irritated look as his attention was _always_ drawn to the pieces of greenery that had been trapped when he had swerved to avoid a rather large pothole and had run over the sizeable weed . Finally coming to the conclusion that this wasn't really doing a lot of good because he couldn't get to it to remove it and clean it off, he glanced back towards the SUV.

Jack as usual seemed to be casually taking in the view without a care in the world, no sign of frustration just the hint of vague amusement, as if fate had bowled him yet another curve ball and he was contemplating the best way to return it and hit fate squarely in the crotch.

"Any luck Tosh?" Jack asked, slowly straightening up and moving towards the open door of the SUV, he knew what her answer was going to be, but there wasn't much else to say and it was better than standing in silence.

Toshiko sighed and shook her head. "Not really. nothings working properly, _when I say properly_ I mean it's picking up interference from... well something probably that field we came through, either that or the SUV coming through it fried something, hard to say until I get the chance to take things apart and check."

"Not exactly an ideal place to do that," he replied, sand got everywhere at the best of times.

"No and if it gets as hot as it _suggests_ it might... maybe we could make use of that building? Find a cool spot clear of sand?" Toshiko pushed the keyboard away and swung her legs around preparing to get out.

"Think we should hang around a bit longer, I'm guessing we could end up with a plus one before much longer and it's better if we can all stick together as much as possible," Jack said, offering his hand to help.

Ianto wandered closer to the forcefield, his fingers itching to clean up the bumper of his car, he sighed and turned his back, then walked purposefully towards the others. "How long do you think we've been stuck here?" He asked, he'd made several attempts to try and keep some sense of passing time, but was now well aware that he had no idea if they had been here for an hour or several.

Jack shrugged, "The sun doesn't seem to have changed position and nothing that shows the time is still working, so it's hard to say."

Ianto nodded, resigned to the fact that not knowing the time was probably the_ least _of their worries right now! Glancing towards his car, he suddenly stopped and retraced his steps. "Car's coming," he said, then added, "It's Owen."

"You still with me Gwen?" Owen demanded, slowly bumping his way down the track. "_Gwen_?" silence.

Parking behind Ianto's car, he turned off the ignition and then threw the now useless headset onto the top of the dashboard. Grabbing his rucksack, he got out to take a closer look around.

Trying his phone briefly (just to be sure it wasn't working) he dumped it into his bag then slung it across his shoulder.

"Come out , come out, wherever you are," he murmured, slowly walking around the other car, at the same time checking the ground and looking for signs of a struggle (there were none).

He could see where the SUV had been parked and then moved forward, but the tracks seemed to stop suddenly. Narrowing his eyes he turned around again, taking a closer look at the car, but there seemed nothing particularly unusual about it, it was just another parked car. Bending down he picked up a handful of small stones, walking beside the tracks he stopped just before they disappeared, then threw one of the pebbles as hard as he could directly in front of him.

Ianto stood silently watching Owen as he walked around, trying to work out what had happened. He saw him pick up something from the ground, and guessed what he was going to do. "Think maybe we should move out of the way, looks like he's going to... OW!" A pebble his him hard on the back of the leg.

On the other side of the forcefield Owen was trying to gauge if there was something he couldn't see where the tracks seemed to end. He threw two more stones in rapid succession, then stopped.

Ianto yelled again as he was hit on the ankle bone and then on the back.

Jack sighed, "Well he can't see you can he?" he said, stating the obvious, although the expression on the other man's face suggested that he was convinced that he could!

Not satisfied, Owen then tried a slow underarm throw forwards, watching the pebble intently, but he couldn't make his mind up if it was disintegrating or disappearing. What he needed was a piece of branch that he could hold out and see what happened, he turned around, searching for something suitable. Oddly there was nothing, then he spotted the bumper on Ianto's car and the trapped weed- that would probably do it. Concentrating on keeping it as intact as possible, he struggled to release it.

"Jack?" Toshiko suddenly said, her gaze fixed on the ground. "Am I imagining things or ..." walking forwards, she stopped beside rutted tracks in the ground, then looked back at him. "The forcefield, it's moving!"

Jack stared at the ground, then towards Owen, who had finally succeeded in releasing the weed from the bumper and was turning back towards where he thought the forcefield was.

It wasn't exactly the strongest looking weed he'd ever seen, but he could hold it out in front of him and still hopefully keep a reasonable distance in case he was in danger of getting fried.

The sound of Toshiko's voice made him look up suddenly. "Where the hell did you ..." it was at that point that he realised he was standing beside the SUV. "Oh bloody wonderful!" he grumbled.

"Something like that," Jack replied, "And then we were four."

Owen sighed and pressed the weed against Ianto's chest. "Don't say I never give you anything," he murmured, walking past him and peering into the distance. "What's that over there?"

Ianto dropped the weed, brushed off his jacket then turned towards him."I would say thanks for cleaning up my car, but I don't think I'll bother." Pushing his hands into his trouser pockets he shrugged. "A building?" he suggested, a sarcastic tone in his voice.

"No shit Sherlock! I would never have known if you hadn't told me." Owen sighed, just what he needed, stuck in Never never land with the genie of the coffee machine!

"Gwen is staying back at base whatever happens, I take it?" Jack enquired, not in the mood for waiting until the small spat between the two men disintegrated into a full blown argument.

"Yeah, that's what we agreed," Owen replied, not bothering to add the obvious _unless she decided to come anyway._

"Good. I think it's time we moved off." Jack nodded towards what looked like a disused road. "Presuming of course..."

The words were barely out of his mouth when the sound of the engine starting up made them all turn towards the SUV. "Seems fine," Ianto smiled cheerfully at them through the windscreen.

"Shall we?" Jack grinned and turned to Owen.

"If he's driving, I'll go in the back if its all the same to you," he replied, giving Ianto an annoyed look as he passed.

He quickly responded back with, "Tosh will like that."

"Tosh will like what?" She enquired, swinging open the door, curious about a conversation that she had apparently missed out on..

"Nothing," mumbled Owen, yanking open the other door and glaring at Jack. "Some people have a weird sense of humour... if you can call it that1"

Jack smirked back, then opened the passenger door. "Forward James, and don't spare the horses."

The SUV moved sedately off in the direction of the road.

**To be continued...**


	5. Chapter 5

Jack Harkness had sat silently watching as they got closer to the building. The fact that neither he nor any member of his team were aware of _any_ kind of structure being here (never mind the desert-like conditions), did nothing to ease his rapidly growing feelings of unease.

Once they were close to the main steps, Ianto turned the SUV in a wide circle, only stopping when they were facing back the way they had come. "Just in case," he murmured, turning off the engine and opening the door.

Jack's only response was a brief nod, before he got out, closely followed by Owen and Toshiko. The sound of four doors slamming echoed around them, Toshiko shivered, they had only just arrived but this place was already giving her the creeps!

They all stood in silence, staring up at the building in front of them. The silence was suddenly broken by the strident metallic sound of Owen checking his gun, a sound that seemed to ripple around him as Jack and Ianto did exactly the same thing.

"Just in case anyone's forgotten... I'm not armed," Toshiko said, suddenly feeling vulnerable.

Jack nodded. "No worries, you just stick with me," he said, at the same time glancing towards the others. "You ready?"

Ianto and Owen nodded and all four turned towards the flight of steps that led up to what appeared to be the main entrance.

"Hotel... something, starts with a C," Ianto peered at the dilapidated sign that hung drunkenly from the wall.

"Collapso?" Suggested Owen, taking up a position to the right of the door, back to the wall, gun raised.

"Whatever it's called, I don't think it gets many visitors," Jack mumbled, checking where Toshiko was, then moving cautiously forward and pushing open the door. "Although I could be wrong," he added, as he stared in surprise at the vision before him.

Unsure what he meant, the other two men turned to follow him through the doorway, both stopping suddenly and staring around them.

"Bloody hell!" Owen stared, then whistled, quietly impressed. "I'd pinch myself, but I don't think I'd believe it, even if it did hurt."

"Me either," Ianto, glancing automatically towards Jack.

"Now what?" Toshiko asked, suddenly feeling extremely under dressed without a weapon.

"How about we have a word with whoever that is?" Jack nodded towards the reception desk, suddenly noticing there was someone there, which was strange, because he could have _sworn_ that there was no one there seconds before, perhaps he had been leaning over behind the desk out of sight, he thought, not entirely convinced.

When Jack and Toshiko headed for reception, Ianto and Owen moved towards opposite walls and slowly worked their way down the Lobby in the direction of a bank of lifts and a staircase.

A wooden name plate with **manager** emblazoned in gold stood at an angle on the desk, on the other side a brass bell to call for attention if the desk was unmanned, Jack found himself doubting that would ever happen.

The manager smiled at him with that multi-purpose smile used by reception staff since time immemorial.

"Sir, madam," he glanced briefly at Toshiko, then turned his attention back to Jack.

Jack beamed back at him. "We seem to be lost, I wonder if you could give us directions back to Cardiff?"

"Oh no sir, you're not lost, you're exactly where you are supposed to be," he replied, the tone of his voice changing to a more authoritarian tone.

"And where would that be, exactly?" Jack's smile vanished, his voice shifting to match that of the other man's.

"This," he announced, his head nodding slightly to indicate where they were standing. "Is the Hotel California."

"Is it? Very nice." Jack replied flatly, gazing idly back at the manager.

The manager's hand moved forward across the desk, when he withdrew it, two keys were sitting in front of Jack, he glanced briefly at them, then looked back at the manager. "We're not staying," he announced bluntly.

Toshiko glanced nervously at the two men, then cleared her throat. "Excuse me," she said politely, "is that the correct time?" Nodding towards a rather ornate wall clock.

The man smiled benignly back at her, then slowly turned to look at it. "Yes, Miss Sato, it is correct, all the clocks in the hotel **always** display the correct time."

She nodded her thanks- the clock's hands showed twelve o'clock, the equivalent of the row of zero's that everything she had with a digital display had shown for the time since they had _arrived._ Then she stared at him, suddenly realising that he had called her by name. "How do you know..."

"I know everyone's name who _stays_ here, madam." Nodding at Jack, he said, "Captain Harkness."

Ianto and Owen were now closing in on the lifts.

Owen glanced across at Ianto, then towards the reception desk and the back view of the manager, what he saw un-nerved him completely. The man had no body below the level of the desktop!

Unable to believe his eyes, he glanced quickly across at Ianto then back again, but when he looked again he didn't see what he had initially seen (or what he thought he had!).

The manager turned his head slightly as if he was aware that he was being watched, without really knowing _why_ Owen was left with the impression that the other... man , was amused at his reaction, even though there was no way he could tell from the view he had of the back of the other man's head.

On the opposite side of the room, Ianto stopped, Owen's strange reaction made him glance warily around him, before he waited for some kind of signal letting him know what was wrong.

Owen shrugged, then nodded towards the staircase, the quicker they secured the area the better he'd like it.

Meanwhile back at the reception desk Jack was pointedly ignoring the fact that he had been referred to by name. What was worrying him more was what might happen if they attempted to leave now rather than later. They needed somewhere for Toshiko to work and a hotel room would probably be a better base than the SUV. He knew they couldn't get past the forcefield (and had no realistic chance of doing it unless Toshiko had a shot at working on what little equipment they had with them.)

"Fine," he said calmly, taking the keys. "Which floor are we on?"

"First floor, sir."

Glancing quickly at Toshiko, he nodded, Tosh smiled vaguely back at him, there clearly wasn't a lot of choice but she was more inclined to go back to the SUV than stay any longer inside the hotel than they had to.

Looking up, he was about to ask about rooms for Owen and Ianto, but there was no one there, the manager had vanished, along with all the items that had previously populated the desk.

"Looks like we're only going to be allowed two rooms," Toshiko murmured, as she followed Jack as he marched towards the staircase.

"First floor, " he announced, not bothering to check if Toshiko was keeping up. "Whatever the hell this place is... we are getting out of it as soon as possible. When we've found the rooms, you two come back and empty out the SUV, then we pick one room and all stay together." He glanced at Ianto and Owen as he passed them and started up the stairs.

The other three followed in silence, each glancing warily behind them ever so often as they made their way towards rooms that had been prepared for them, none wanting to dwell on exactly **what** kind of preparation that might have entailed!

**to be continued...**


	6. Chapter 6

Jack Harkness marched down the hallway, glancing at the room numbers on the key fobs as he went. "We have...105 and 106 sooo," he checked the doors as they passed them, "I vote we use 105," he said looking back at the others to see if anyone objected.

Owen shrugged, "Whatever," and looked towards the other two, not expecting them to be bothered either, it made sense to keep together, especially if it seemed like they were being encouraged to split up (even if it was only into twos).

Putting the key into the lock, Jack paused, glancing right and then left to make sure he had backup (just in case).

"Okay?" Drawing his revolver, he took a breath and then turned the key, pushed open the door and charged in, the others following quickly behind.

The word "clear," repeated again and again as the bathroom, wardrobe and anywhere that could be used as a hiding place was checked.

"Double bed," Toshiko murmured, deliberately not looking in Owen's direction.

Ianto suddenly became fascinated by the light fittings and Jack returned his revolver to it's holster and glanced towards Owen who had just dumped his bag beside a large easy chair and slumped into it. "This'll do me," he announced, glancing over the arm to look at the floor for no apparent reason. "Had plenty of practice at sleeping in chairs," he added, to no one in particular.

Toshiko stared vacantly at the door and said nothing.

Jack glanced around at the members of his team and grinned, twenty-first century reactions to a room with only one double bed, it wasn't as if they were likely to have much time for sleeping!

"Right!" Jack clapped his hands and tilted his head slightly. "Ianto, Owen. Go down and bring up as much as you can form the SUV. Tosh clear yourself a space to work on. "

Ianto raised his eyebrows in Owen's direction, wanting to know if he was ready to go, Owen stood up slowly and shrugged, giving Jack a look that suggested he was expecting him to do something useful as well.

"And while you are doing that... I'll see if I can find out how you get room service in this place," Jack said, glancing towards the bedside cabinet, in the vague hope of spotting a phone and some kind of menu.

* * *

Arriving back in the Lobby, Owen and Ianto glanced around them, everything was silent, no suggestion that there was anyone else in the hotel. As they passed the reception desk, Ianto slowed, glancing at the highly polished wood that showed no sign of wear, then something made him look to one side, there was nothing there, but for a split second he had thought there was someone, shrugging he moved to follow Owen and then stopped dead. Gasping for breath he clutched at his chest, it was as if something had moved through his body, leaning forward, he looked towards Owen who had just opened the door and was turning back to see where he was.

"You alright?" Owen called, starting to move back towards him.

Ianto nodded and straightened up again, then waved his hands as if shooing the other man away. "Yes," he mumbled glancing back to see if there was anything behind him, although if there had been Owen would surely have seen it and said something.

Owen didn't ask what had bothered Ianto, if he had thought it was worth while mentioning (whatever it was), he would have. Shrugging, he waited until the other man had caught up and then lead the way towards the SUV.

* * *

After systematically working his way around the room, Jack finally conceded defeat, if they wanted anything to eat it was going to mean leaving the room to look for it, it clearly wasn't going to come to them.

Toshiko had cleared the desk, moving a laptop out of the way to give herself more room to work, settling herself in the chair, she leaned back and waited for Ianto and Owen to come back, she didn't bother asking if Jack had found a phone to call room service, the fact that she hadn't heard him putting in an order told its own tale.

"What do you think this place is?" She asked, turning towards him.

Jack shrugged, "The forcefield only allows access in one direction, which suggests its some kind of trap, if it had been purely for camouflage we would have been able to leave without any problem- or not be able to get past the barrier in the first place."

"So, it was stalking us? Luring us towards it?" She murmured back, "But why would it be interested in us?"

"We're Torchwood, probably reason enough," he said, then suddenly paused, there was something about the way they had been trapped that was nagging at him, but he couldn't think what it was.

She could tell that something was bothering him, he wasn't the only one. "Do you think it was one of us particular that it wanted, or all of us?"

_One of us in particular,_ Jack blinked, then suddenly realised what it was that had seemed odd. "That's it!" He moved towards her, grinning. "I just walked through, so did you, Ianto drove though, but Owen... it closed in on Owen."

"Yes, it did!" She stared back at him, "He had his back to us and it actually moved towards him, he has to be the one it wants."

"Okay, we are going to have to make sure that he's never on his own, if whoever is doing this really only wants him, then they are going to want to get rid of us, which means they have two options, either separate us and then force us to leave without him, or..."

"Or they wait until we think that we've solved the problem of getting out, we go through the field but it blocks Owen," Toshiko licked her lips nervously. "If they did it that way... we wouldn't realise he wasn't with us until it was too late."

Jack looked up at the ceiling, how the hell were they going to work this? "Best thing we can do for now is to make sure that Owen is never left on his own, there will always have to be one of us with him at all times."

Toshiko grimaced, "He's going to love that!"

"If he wants a shot at getting home, he's jut going to have to put up with it," he replied, although knowing how bloody-minded Owen could be, he doubted it was going to be an easy (or quiet) solution to the problem.

"Well as you're the boss, I'll leave you with the pleasure of telling him," she smirked back at him. "I'll also have to leave the babysitting to you... I'll be far too busy." Turning back towards the desk, she murmured to herself, "And I'm sure he won't be heartbroken about that."

Jack sat down on the end of the bed and sighed, maybe he should do them all a favour and just lock Owen into the other bedroom and put a chair outside the door so he and Ianto could take turns at doing guard duty.

* * *

Owen and Ianto had finally succeeded in getting most of the equipment from the SUV into the lift and up to the first floor.

"Why the bloody hell did you bring all this lot?" Owen demanded, dragging one of the longer bags out of the lift by its handles. "I'm amazed you didn't include camping gear," he paused and glared at the other man. "You didn't, did you? Tell me you didn't!"

Ianto sighed, giving Owen an impatient look. "What on Earth makes you think that I'd consider packing camping equipment?"

"What? You mean _apart _from the fact that you are always so bloody anal when it comes to leaving anything behind- just in case?"

"I do not bring along anything _just in case_, I only ever bring what's likely to be useful, given what I know the situation to be."

"_What you know the situation to be,_" Owen parroted back. "Well, if I find a bloody snorkel and flippers in this lot anywhere... you're toast." He grumbled back, then set off towards their room still dragging one bag and carrying another one.

Carrying a collection of smaller bags, Ianto followed him. When Owen reached the door, he kicked it and yelled, "Open up," then kicked it once more for good measure.

* * *

Jack opened the door and grinned. "Owen! What a surprise."

"Yeah, right," Owen grumbled, pushing past him, "Just call me Pickfords." Dumping the smaller bag on the end of the bed, he let go of the handles to the larger one that he had been dragging. "And how come he gets all the lighter bags and I get lumbered with these?"

"Luck of the draw," Ianto retorted, putting his bags down on the floor.

"How the hell can it be _luck of the draw_ when you know what's in them?" He protested, starting to pace up and down in frustration.

"**Owen, **will you stop doing that?" Jack glared at him, the situation was bad enough without him making it worse.

Scowling back at Jack, he slumped down in the chair, then sat in silence, lips pursed, staring at the floor.

Oh wonderful! Jack sighed, "This everything?" He asked, looking cheerfully in Ianto's direction.

Owen snorted loudly.

Ianto glared at Owen, then cleared his throat. "They are the ones I thought might be most useful."

"Great, thanks Ianto." Jack nodded, then paused for a second expecting Owen to add something, when he didn't he turned towards him. "And you," he added, "are now under house arrest."

"_What_! Why?"

"Because I say so," he announced, moving back across the room. "You never let him out of your sight, you understand?" He told Ianto.

Ianto nodded, eyebrows raised in enquiry.

Jack ducked his head slightly, the expression on his face telling him that he'd tell him if he got the chance when Owen was out of earshot.

"Why couldn't you have done the house arrest _before_ I had cart all that lot up here?" Owen complained loudly from the other side of the room.

"What and miss the fun of hearing you complaining endlessly about it?" Jack retorted.

Owen folded his arms across his chest and leaned back in the chair, glaring at Jack. He couldn't be bothered to argue the toss any longer, as usual with these things he always ended up with the short straw.

Meanwhile Toshiko had been checking the bags, selecting various pieces of equipment and taking them over to the desk, were she carefully placed them where she wanted them and then sat down again, opened up a small tool kit and began to remove the cases of what he hoped would provide her with the parts to construct something that would help.

**To be continued**


	7. Chapter 7

Toshiko worked steadily and in silence apart from the occasional sound of frustration as something failed when she hadn't expected it to. Owen was slumped in his chair, apparently asleep. Jack and Ianto leaned on the wall to the left and right of the bathroom door, occasionally glancing at each other, but saying nothing.

Jack looked across at Owen, then back to Ianto, he was reluctant to say anything in case it disturbed Toshiko, but he was getting fed up of having nothing to do. Pushing away from the wall, he cleared his throat then glanced at Ianto, who raised his eyebrows in enquiry, Jack grimaced and shrugged.

"You don't have to keep quiet for me," Toshiko said, still concentrating on what she was doing. "I'm used to it being noisy."

"If that was aimed at me, thanks a bloody lot!" Owen replied, his eyes still closed.

"Why would it be aimed at you?" She replied, taking a closer look at a tiny piece she had just removed from a circuit-board.

Owen shifted his position in the chair, then opened his eyes and sniffed. "No bloody idea, you tell me."

"Right, fine." Jack moved quickly towards the door, as if he had suddenly made him mind up about something. "Owen, you're with me. Time we went to find something to eat."

Owen folded his arms and made no attempt to move. "Place this big hasn't got room service?" He grumbled back.

Opening the door, Jack paused. "Nope, apparently not. So we are just going to have to go look for something. Ianto you stay here, keep an eye on Tosh... and keep the door locked just in case."

Ianto nodded and moved towards the doorway, then glanced back at Owen, who still hadn't moved.

Jack folded his arms across his chest and cleared his throat, it looked like it was going to be one of those days when he couldn't make his mind up if he wanted to strangle Owen or drown him in Cardiff Bay.

"Yeah, alright, I'm coming," he replied, reluctantly standing up and moving forwards. "Why can't Ianto go? It's not like he's doing anything is it?"

"No and neither are you." Turning quickly he walked out into the hallway, hoping that his medic would get a move on and follow him.

Jack waited until he heard the door lock, then headed towards the staircase. He hadn't gone more than a few steps, before he stopped and turned back. "Did you see anyone when you went down to the SUV?"

Owen shook his head. "Nah, not a soul."

Jack walked over to the nearest door. "Maybe we should see if we can raise another guest?" He suggested, looking back at him.

"Well, we could always just knock," Owen suggested, puzzled why Jack was suddenly so bothered about no one being about. It was a big and by the look of it, expensive hotel, the staff were always supposed to be invisible and numerous and guests were often sparse in places like this.

"Good idea, room 101 should be worth a try," Jack grinned back, at the same time hammering with his fist on the door. "Hello? Anyone there?" Leaning against it, he pressed his ear against the wood and listened for any signs of movement.

"If anyone opens that, you're going to be really embarrassed," Owen commented, a smirk slowly forming on his face.

"Nobody in," Jack replied, checking his wrist strap- nothing. Whatever had been blocking it from working outside was still active.

Owen reached into the inside pocket of his coat. "Alright, step back a bit, let the dog see the rabbit." Setting to work with his lock-pick, he finally grinned and pushed the door open.

"You never did tell me where you learned to do that," Jack murmured, not really expecting an answer.

Shrugging, Owen sidestepped the question, "Only really any good on padlocks and Yales the rest take too long." He walked into the room, glancing around him. "So exactly what are we looking for?"

"Habitation?" Jack suggested, pulling open the nearest drawer.

"Well it looks like there's someone staying here," he replied, looking warily towards the door, then opening the wardrobe. "Bloody hell!" Leaning inside he dragged something out. "I think maybe we picked the wrong room," he commented.

Jack stared at the axe that Owen was holding. "And this," he added holding up a piece of wood, sharpened at one end.

"Maybe they like camping?" He mumbled back, then returned the axe to the wardrobe.

"I don't think it's a tent peg," Jack replied, then turned as the door suddenly closed.

Looking nervously at Jack, Owen raised his eyebrows. "That door just moved, right?" Then the bathroom door opened, he gulped and reached for his gun. "Did you see anyone?"

"No," Jack murmured, edging towards the door. "I think we should get the hell out of here, while we still can."

Owen nodded, his gaze fixed on the now open bathroom door, which then suddenly swung shut. Something seemed to move towards and then through his body, making him fight for breath and double up. "What the bloody hell was that?" He demanded, forcing himself to stand upright and stagger towards Jack, who had their exit door open and was waiting for him. As soon as Owen was back in the hallway he slammed the door shut.

"I think maybe we should stick to our room, if there are more here like that..." Jack said, turning back towards room 105.

"Couldn't agree more- suddenly I'm not hungry," Owen mumbled in reply, then shivered. "Someone just walked over my grave."

"Really?" Jack replied, "Ever considered being buried at sea?" Then grinned as Owen snorted and smirked back at him.

"There are a few people I wouldn't mind walking over it if I was... naming no names!"

* * *

Ianto locked the door behind Jack and Owen, then tugged at the handle just to be doubly sure. Turning back he glanced at Toshiko who was busily putting together something that reminded him of the inside of one of the electronic locks in the Hub.

"You know it's funny, but I'm getting a signal on this and I shouldn't be." she turned to Ianto, puzzled. "They should be blocking this like they're blocking everything else, but they aren't. "

"Maybe they just wants to get rid of us?" he suggested, moving towards the desk. Nice idea, but after going to all that trouble to trap them in the first place, it made no sense.

Toshiko licked her lips nervously. "Maybe not all of us!"

"What do you mean, _not all of us_? " He asked, the only likely contender in that case was Jack and he didn't want to think what anyone (or thing) would want him for!

"I was talking to Jack earlier and he thinks... well, we both think, it's Owen they want," Toshiko glanced up at Ianto then turned her attention back to the job in hand.

"Owen!" He stared back in surprise, "Why the hell would anyone want Owen?" he demanded, baffled.

"No idea," she mumbled in reply, trying to sound like she was distracted by what she was doing.

Ianto ran through all the options why some alien _whatever-this-was _could have any interest what so ever in Owen and came to the inevitable conclusion that there wasn't one!

"Okay, well Jack I could understand, but** Owen**?" he shrugged, this place looked like it was going to turn out even weirder than he thought!

"Why not," she replied, trying to sound neutral. "I mean he is a doctor and he has a lot of alien knowledge, maybe that's why, they need him to treat someone or some_thing_ here that's sick?"

"We'll never hear the bloody last of it, if that _is _why," he sighed loudly.

"Well he is good, you know he is," she said, sounding defensive. He could be a real pain, but the simple fact was that he was very good at his job, Jack would never have even considered recruiting him if he hadn't been.

"I know that," he replied, just so long as he wasn't the one boosting Owen's ego up a notch when he found out he was the one they were targeting.

"I'm sure Jack will deal with telling him- if it ever needs doing." Carefully removing one of the wires she had just attached, she reached for plastic case of the device she had been cannibalising and brushed a tiny speck of dust off the inside with her thumb.

"But what made you think..." Ianto was interrupted by loud banging on the door. "Sounds like they're back already," he said, smiling with relief and going to unlock it.

Noticing the expression on the two men's faces, Ianto's relief at their return quickly disintegrated. "What happened?" He demanded.

Owen shrugged, the glanced at Jack. "Best guess? This place is bloody haunted and the sooner we get the hell out of here the better I'll like it."

"Haunted?" Toshiko stared in alarm at Owen. "What makes you say that?"

"Oh nothing much," he replied sharply, "Just something... " he shook his head. "Whatever."

"It felt, as if something had passed through your body didn't it?" Ianto said, looking straight at him.

Owen nodded, then waited for an explanation as to how he knew.

"It happened to me down in the lobby when we went to get the gear," he glanced at Jack, then added. "I thought I was imagining things... seems not!"

"Okay, well this is what we do. Soon as Tosh has something that might work, we get he hell out of here and head for the barrier. Anything here that might be useful we take with us, don't forget anything because we aren't coming back. We sit it out until we find a way through. Okay?" He looked around at the others, they all nodded in agreement.

"Turn this place upside down, anything that will hold water, fill it up. I say we forget about food and concentrate on water," Jack glanced around as he spoke, the only thing he could see was a large vase.

A knock on the door made them all freeze and glance nervously at each other. silently nodding agreement, the three men approached the door, weapons drawn.

**To be continued...**


	8. Chapter 8

Jack opened the door, ready to shoot, then stared in amazement. His reaction made Owen lean out and look.

"What the hell!"

"What is it?" Toshiko demanded, standing up and walking towards them.

Ianto laughed. "Believe it or not," he said grinning and pulling a trolley into the room. "We appear to have room service."

"Looks like someone else is quite keen on us leaving soon too," Jack added, pulling four plastic packages from the lower shelf. "Water carriers."

A loud beeping noise suddenly came from the direction of the desk, Toshiko turned back, puzzled by the sound. "It shouldn't be doing that!"

"Something wrong with it?" Owen asked, moving closer, the beeping changed to a high-pitched scream.

They all covered their ears as the scream got louder until it was almost unbearable.

"What the hell is that?" Jack demanded, trying to make himself heard.

"I don't know, something must have triggered it," she replied, trying to stop it.

Unable to stand it for a second longer, Owen headed for the doorway, as soon as he did the noise stopped. "Thank gawd for that!" turning back he took a few steps and it started up all over again.

Toshiko turned quickly around. "Owen go to the door."

"Why?" he demanded, clearly puzzled.

"Just do it," she replied, "**Now.**"

As soon as Owen moved towards the door the room fell silent. Jack stared at Toshiko, trying to work out what tricks were being played on them now!

"Okay, Tosh, what the _hell _happened then?"

Toshiko didn't reply immediately, she was too busy checking connections, finally satisfied that it hadn't been caused by a loose wire, she nodded to herself then turned towards Jack.

"It's picking something up from Owen. You aren't carrying some kind of tracking device are you?" Raising her eyebrows she looked enquiringly at him.

"_**What. **_Why the bloody-hell would I want to bug myself?" No sooner were the words out of his mouth than he remembered that that was exactly what he **had** done before he had left the Hub. "Erm, actually Tosh, come to think of it," he mumbled. looking sheepishly at her.

Ianto turned away, trying to hide the smirk on his face. "Makes a change," he murmured, his lips twitching as he attempted to return to his usual neutral expression.

Owen heard his comment and glared briefly at him before turning away and glancing towards Toshiko. "I'll ditch the damned thing. Only brought it with everyone doing a bunk."

Looking quickly towards Jack, she shook her head. "No, don't do that. It might come in handy," she said, dipping her head and mumbling the last few words.

Suspiciously eyeing Toshiko and Jack, Owen finally lost patience with them. "Alright, what the bloody-hell is it that you two know that I damned-well don't?"

"Nothing." Toshiko murmured, head bowed, she turned back to the desk.

"Like she says... nothing," Jack repeated, grinned, then glanced towards Ianto, attempting to make eye contact.

Eyes narrowed, Owen glared at Ianto. "Oh right, so he's in on this too, is he? No bloody surprise there then!"

Jack closed his eyes and sighed, good as Owen was at his job, there were times... "Owen," he said, his voice clear and concise.

"That's my name, don't wear it out." Owen pressed his lips together and looked impatiently back at Jack.

Giving Owen a warning look that said _shut it Owen, I'm the boss,_ he replied with, "At the moment it's on a need to know bases and..."

"Yeah, I know,_ I don't need to know_. Well it better hadn't be the same as what happened last time I didn't _need to know, _'cos we all know how _that _turned out, **don't we Jack**?" Owen folded his arms tightly across his chest and fixed Jack with a cold stare.

"It isn't," Jack replied bluntly.

Owen's expression clearly said, _yeah right, I believe you, millions wouldn't, _but he said nothing, just looked down at the floor.

Relieved that Owen seemed to have dropped the subject, Jack turned his attention back to the trolley. "Okay, looks like there's a good supply of food here, just need the water containers filling up and we can get moving," he glanced across at Toshiko. "As long as you're all set to go?"

Toshiko nodded then smiled. "Yep, all working- well more or less, as long as they don't decide to start blocking it again."

"Somehow I don't think that's going to happen, they seem to want us gone for some reason." Jack handed two of the containers to Ianto, kept hold of the remaining two and headed for the bathroom.

"Hello? Can you hear me?" A familiar voice suddenly burst into life.

The all turned, staring at the desk.

"Gwen?" Toshiko reached for the piece of tech she had built, then realised that the voice wasn't coming from that, but from the mobile phone that she had cannibalised for parts. Picking it up, she then held it closer to her ear, there was no way that it could be working! "Erm, Hello," she said, not really believing that she was attempting to use the phone in the state it was in.

"Oh, thank god! I've been trying to reach you for the last three days." The relief in Gwen's voice very evident.

Jack took the phone from Toshiko, then paused for a moment before he raised it towards his ear. "Gwen!" His voice sounded pleasantly surprised, almost as if she was the one who had been missing. "How's things at the Hub?"

"Fine," Gwen's voice suddenly sounded wary. "Where are you exactly?" She enquired, leaning against the back of Owen's car.

"Right this minute? We're in a luxury hotel just off the dual carriageway."

Gwen was suddenly standing upright, staring around her. "What, near to where Owen's car is?" she asked, then started to walk towards the front of his car.

"Yep," he replied. "Complete with enigmatic exterior and desert as far as the eye can see."

Shaking her head nervously, she looked back towards her own car. "Nothing like that here, Jack. Just grass."

Suddenly realising the danger she was in, Owen moved from his position by the door. "Gwen. Don't move..." He never finished his warning- his alarm went off yet again.

Everyone clutched at their ears, and Gwen dropped her phone in shock. Ianto manhandled Owen back towards the doorway, as soon as he was back out of range it stopped and they all relaxed and heaved a sigh of relief.

"What the bloody hell was that?" She demanded, wincing.

"That would be Owen," Jack replied, his ears still ringing.

Gwen snorted, resisting the temptation to say, _well it would be wouldn't it? _

"I think what he was about to say," Jack smirked towards him,"before he was so rudely interrupted, was that it's probably better if you don't go any further down that track than Owen's car."

"Okay," she drawled back, then stopped. She had just reached the point where she was level with the front of the car.

Glancing at the ground, she could see what looked like tracks made by the SUV just in front, Ianto's car, then the road (if you could call it that) went on, branching off across a field.

"There's a forcefield, we're on the other side of it and once you cross it- you can't get back." He paused for a second. "At least we couldn't, but I think maybe someone suddenly wants us gone."

"Do you know if it moves, this barrier?" She asked, warily.

"Yes, yes it does," Jack said urgently, "Whatever you do, make sure you can see Owen's car at all times. It moved towards Ianto's, that's how it got Owen."

"Can you see the front of my car?" Ianto asked, suddenly wondering which side of the barrier his car was now on.

"Um. Hang on a minute, I'll have a look." Walking out into the field until she had gone far enough to see all of his car, she stopped, looked perfectly fine as far as she could see. "Well, I can see all of it, if that's any use."

"Yeah, that's fine, thanks Gwen. it must have move back again by the sound of things. If it had stayed where it was the last time we were up there, you probably wouldn't be able to see part of it."

"Maybe the barrier has gone?" Owen suggested, "If that's what was blocking the signal."

"It's possible," Toshiko nodded, still trying to work out how the phone could possible be working without its battery never mind everything else she had stripped out of it.

"Okay Gwen, back up as far as you can. If there's any sign of either of those cars starting to vanish, get the hell out of there, you hear me?" Jack turned to the others. "Time we made a move."

Ianto waved one of the water carriers. "what about filling these?" he asked, clearly reluctant go without them.

"Take them as they are, something tells me if they want us to have water, we'll get it. Owen, go into the bathroom until we've gone out into the corridor. Tosh, you ready?"

"Gwen, if you see us coming, don't come towards us whatever you do, let us come to you, okay?"

"Will do." She replied, then moved back to her own car and waited.

Owen stood impatiently waiting in the bathroom as the others packed up and headed out of the door. Jack paused by the doorway.

"Okay, Owen we're done here, get your stuff and follow us," he paused, then added, "And keep in sight of at least one of us, they may try to split us up."

"Yeah, alright," Owen's voice echoed around the bathroom.

Jack went out into the hallway, stopping beside Toshiko. "Have you managed to work out how far away from him you have to be before we all get deafened?"

Toshiko nodded. "It's okay, I've tweaked it a bit, it will still trigger but not as loud... I hope!"

Meanwhile still inside the room, Owen picked up his bag, then glanced around, checking they hadn't left anything that might be needed. Surprised, he noticed that Jack had left his mobile phone on the windowsill. Grabbing it, he dropped it into the front compartment of his rucksack and zipped it up.

Closing the door, he speeded up to catch up with Jack, who was just about to turn the corner and go down the stairs.

Back inside the room, a faint breeze flipped at the curtains, then the phone that Owen had just put into his bag reappeared back where he had taken it from.

**To be continued...**


	9. Chapter 9

The team made their way cautiously down the staircase and into the Lobby, no one surprised to find it deserted and silent.

Ianto led the way towards the door, ignoring the urge to look around him for one last time (at least he hoped that was what it was going to be), he **still** wasn't convinced that when it came to it, whoever had trapped them would be willing to release them quite so easily!

Toshiko stared at the newly built piece of tech that she held in her hand, it wasn't powerful enough to tell her anything about what was going on beyond the doorway, but at least she'd managed to turn down the alarm that Owen's tracker triggered. Instead of an ear-splitting scream, it now made a soft strangulated tweeting noise. She smirked, it sounded (to her, anyway) just like a rather exaggerated kiss.

Jack walked crab-like across the Lobby, Webley in hand, occasionally checking that Owen hadn't been spirited away. He was still in two minds about leaving so quickly, perhaps they should have investigated more of the bedrooms, he was curious about what kind of person went on holiday with an axe and a wooden stake in their luggage! He was also wondering about what he _guessed_ were public rooms, leading off the hallway beyond the lifts. Maybe he'd get the chance to investigate some other time, right now all he wanted to do was get all of his team safely home.

Detouring towards the reception desk, he took his mobile phone from his pocket, then surreptitiously slipped it towards the back of one of the pigeon holes. It wasn't very likely that it would provide any information at all, but it was worth a try.

Owen didn't take much notice when Jack change direction, all he wanted to do was get the hell out of this damned place, any curiosity he may once have had about it, had died a _very_ rapid death, from the moment that _whatever it was,_ had moved through his body (and yes he was convinced that was **exactly** what had happened).

Ianto had never been so relieved to see the SUV, it stood exactly were he had left it, waiting for them. The keys were already in his hand and the familiar beep from the alarm sounded before he had reached the last of the dilapidated steps.

Jack was still crossing the Lobby when he heard the beep, he smiled and lengthened his stride to catch up with the others.

Claiming the keys from Ianto, Jack settled himself in the driving seat, leaving him to take the front passenger seat beside him. Owen reluctantly got into the back with Toshiko.

"What the hell is that noise?" He finally demanded.

Toshiko did her best not to look evasive. "It's your tracker," she said, glancing out of the window.

"No, it's that bloody box of tricks you've got there. Can't you stop it from doing that?" He grumbled, as it twittered incessantly.

"Sorry," she replied, not sounding in the least bit sorry at all!

Owen looked sulkily out of the window and said nothing.

"Look on the bright side," Jack said cheerfully from the drivers seat, "It sounds like something loves you."

Ianto glanced at Jack an amused look on his face, Toshiko pressed her lips together, fighting off the urge to giggle. Owen just glared across at him, mumbled, "Yeah, very funny," then looked pointedly out of the window again.

The SUV sped towards the place they had first entered the trap, occasionally bouncing alarmingly when it hit an uneven piece of ground.

"Okay, people. We're nearly back where we started, you all know what happened last time. Toshiko... keep hold of Owen," Jack announced, then smirked and waited for his response.

Owen took a breath then said nothing, instead he narrowed his eyes suspiciously at Jack, at the same time folding his arms tightly across his chest (or as tightly as his seatbelt would let him).

Toshiko grinned cheerfully at him, then leaned across and patted his arm. "Don't look so worried, Owen. I don't bite."

"Chance would be a fine thing!" He mumbled cryptically, then shifted closer to the door. what the hell was Jack playing at? Telling Tosh to take care of him, well actually not take care of just keep hold of... why? Opening his mouth to demand to know exactly what was going on that he didn't know about, the SUV suddenly stopped and as usual with Jack's driving, the inertia seatbelts didn't quite manage to kick in quickly enough. Distracted by having to avoid bashing his head on the back of the passenger seat, Jack was outside before Owen had a chance to say anything more.

* * *

Gwen finally got back into her car and wound down the window, listening for the sound of anything approaching. Daylight was slowly beginning to fade and because of where they were, it wouldn't be long before the only lighting would come from the headlights of passing cars on the carriageway the street lighting was designed to only illuminate the roadway, so once night fell, she would be (literally) in the dark about what was going on.

Meanwhile on the other side of the forcefield, the rest of the Torchwood team were standing in bright sunlight.

"This has to be where we were before," Ianto said, looking around at the marks in the sand, obviously made by the SUV.

"What kind of readings are you getting?" Jack asked urgently, glancing towards Toshiko.

"Near as I can tell," she paused, tapping at the makeshift control buttons. "There seems to be a gap, when I say a gap, it could just be a weak point in the field, trouble is, I can't tell how weak it is, I doubt we could just walk through it, but it might be possible to drive through."

"So how come we can't see anything?" Owen grumbled, staring at the black expanse of nothing directly in front of them. "The other cars should be there, not to mention Gwen, unless she's gone home for her tea."

Fed up of Owen's incessant grumbling, Toshiko finally said. "Look, Owen, you know as well as I do that..." Whatever it was that either of them did or didn't know, she never got the chance to mention, because without any warning they were standing in total darkness. Panicking in case this was how Owen was going to be spirited away from them, she lurched towards him, then took a firm grip of the first thing that came to hand.

"Oy! Tosh, do you mind?" Then suddenly uncertain, added, "Erm, that is you, is it?"

"Sadly, Owen, I'm all the way over here," Jack's voice said, from some distance to the left of him.

"And I'm over here too," added Ianto, amused at Owen's sudden wary response.

"Yeah, well, you would be, wouldn't you?" he responded, then peered in the vague direction of a soft trilling sound. "That is that bloody machine of yours and not you, is it?"

"Yes, it is," she replied, wearily. "Why? Would you rather it was me?"

Owen said nothing.

"I can see lights," Ianto announced suddenly.

"Oh, yippee!" Owen's voice grumbled out of the darkness.

"He's right, there are!" Jack said, turning around and groping his way back to the SUV, he turned on its headlights. Ianto's car was now clearly visible.

Toshiko was standing slightly behind Owen, gripping tightly to the bottom of his jacket.

"I think you can let go now, thanks all the same," he said, glancing over his shoulder at her.

"Right, sorry," she replied apologetically, then reluctantly let go.

* * *

Convinced she had heard the familiar sound of the SUV engine, Gwen got out of the car and peered around, it was now too dark to see anything properly, then suddenly part of Ianto's car was illuminated, she tried to see where the light originated from, but couldn't.

"Jack? Jack, that you?" She yelled, moving forward and then stopping, not wanting to go any nearer.

Jack shushed the others. "Thought I heard something," he said, holding up his hand for silence.

Gwen called again. "Tosh? You there?"

"Gwen!" Toshiko yelled back, overjoyed to hear her voice.

"Gwen, don't come any closer," Jack warned. "Put your car's headlights on, we need see what's going on here."

Gwen leaned through the open window and hit the switch, then shifted them to full beam. "That any better?" She yelled back.

The area directly in front of Gwen's car was bathed in bright light, the two other cars clearly visible, along with most of the dirt track.

"Okay, everybody get back into the SUV, Tosh whatever you do, don't take your eyes off Owen," Jack moved back as he spoke, swung open the drivers door and got in behind the wheel.

Fed up of of being grabbed by Toshiko, Owen sidestepped her and dodged around the front of the car, then got into the passenger seat beside Jack. "That's better," he said cheerfully, then fastened his seatbelt.

Shrugging, Jack glanced into the back, making sure the other two were on board, then put the SUV into gear and gunned the engine until it screamed. "Hang on everyone," he yelled above the din, then released the brake and hurtled towards where (he hoped) the forcefield would allow them through.

The sound of scraping metal filled the air, sparks flew in all directions and Ianto clenched his teeth, trying not to imagine the damage that was being done to the paintwork. One final bounce and the SUV finally cleared the forcefield tipped alarmingly to one side and then stopped inches away from the bumper of Ianto's car.

Jack sighed and pulled on the handbrake, seconds later Ianto was standing beside his car, peering nervously at the gap between it and the front of the SUV.

"Think someone might need some tranquillisers," Owen mumbled, cheerfully, as he undid his seatbelt and swung open the door.

Ianto just stood in silence, pointing at the gap and staring accusingly through the windscreen at Jack.

"Good job his foot didn't slip," commented Owen, as he walked towards his own car.

As soon as Gwen saw the SUV appear, she hurried forward, then stopped and turned away, eyes closed, expecting it to collide with the car. When nothing happened, she looked up, relieved.

"Everyone alright?" She demanded, as Owen walked towards her.

"Yeah," he replied, as he searched his pockets for his car keys. "Ianto might need a change of underwear though."

Gwen giggled, then glanced towards Ianto, who was still standing in front of the SUV, looking at the gap between its front bumper and the wing of his car then back at Jack.

Jack pushed open the door and stood on the running board. "Okay, if everyone can head back to the Hub?" He said, then swung back inside and slammed the door closed.

"You okay there?" He asked, glancing at Toshiko's reflection in the rear view mirror.

"Yes, thank you," she mumbled back, forcing a smile. "I'll be glad to get away from here."

"You and me both," he replied, then smiled. "All over now."

Toshiko nodded, she just hoped he was right.

**To be continued...**


	10. Chapter 10

A convoy of cars with the SUV bringing up the rear, made its stately progress back towards the Hub. Jack headed for the underground car park, then he and Toshiko entered the Hub through the Armoury.

Toshiko stopped and looked up towards the ceiling high above her then sighed with relief, it wasn't often she felt like this when she arrived back at the Hub, but this time... well there had been moments when she had thought that perhaps she would never stand on this spot and see what she was seeing, ever again.

"Okay, Tosh?" Jack enquired, as he brushed past her on the way to his office.

"Yes. fine," she replied, then headed for her workstation. It didn't do to dwell on things, but it had to be said, if the last prison she had been in had been anything like the hotel they had just left, she doubted Jack would have had such an easy job recruiting her!

* * *

Gwen, Owen and Ianto parked in their usual bays, then walked towards the information centre, Gwen occasionally grabbing first Owen's arm and the Ianto's, just pleased to have them safely back. There had been moments during the hours she had spend waiting, when she had found herself debating what she would have to do if the others didn't make it back, it was at that point that she suddenly realised just how much she didn't know about how Torchwood worked (and just how much Jack did know and chose not to share).

Toshiko sat at her desk, quietly watching the CCTV feed of her three colleagues as they laughed and joked their way towards the Information Centre entrance. In front of her, the remains of her mobile phone (which now refused to work, whatever she tried) and the unit that she had constructed, that was now as dead as the proverbial doornail. Looking at them now, there really was _no way _they should have worked! She was still staring vacantly at them, when the rolling door opened and Gwen, Ianto and Owen arrived.

"I never thought I'd be glad to see this bloody place, but I am," Owen announced, taking the steps up to the platform quickly, then nudging Toshiko's back with his hand as he passed her. "Which reminds me, got something for you," he said, heading for the autopsy landing, so he could remove the tracker.

Turning slightly, she smiled at his back, realised she was probably over reacting and looked away again, mumbling "Oh, right."

Gwen gave her a sympathetic smile, then sat at her desk, much as she hated to admit it, once Owen got under your skin, you were never really free of him, however hard you tried.

Jack dumped his coat over the stand in his office, glanced around him, then hearing the others arriving walked out onto the platform, hands in pockets. Ianto passed him going in the opposite direction and they acknowledged each other briefly, before he turned his attention to everyone else.

"All safe and sound," he said, grinning around him, then nodding at Toshiko, who smiled and nodded back.

Owen reappeared, throwing the tracker onto Toshiko's desk. "There you go, don't say I never give you anything." Suddenly remembering something, he turned his attention to his rucksack, which he had dumped on the floor beside the settee. "Which reminds me, you left your phone behind."

Jack stared at him in surprise, there was no way he could have seen him when he had left his mobile in the reception desk at the hotel, much less retrieve it without him noticing. "You sure it's mine?" He asked.

"Yep, " he replied, checking the compartment he knew he had put it into and finding it empty. "You left it in the hotel room, on the window sill."

"No I didn't," I had it in the Lobby when we left.

"I think you could both be wrong," Ianto announced, coming out of Jack's office, mobile phone held up in the air for everyone to see. "It was on your desk, "he added.

"Couldn't have been, I just came out of there, it wasn't there then," he peered at the phone. "You sure it's mine?"

Ianto's expression of _You __**really**__ think I don't know your mobile phone when I see it, _made Jack realise what a really stupid question that had to be. "'course you are," he mumbled.

Owen continued to search the rest of his bag, then finally gave up and threw it onto the coffee table in disgust. "I don't get it."

"Well, if it's any help, none of the tech that I got to work there will work now either. Not that it should have worked in the first place!"

"Ye canna break the laws of physics, Jim," Jack said, in a fake Scottish accent.

Toshiko gave him a baffled look.

"Joke," he said, clearing his throat and changing the subject. "Don't suppose any of the monitors showed anything?"

"No," she replied, shaking her head. "Nothing."

Ianto sighed. "Nothing strange there then. Just another normal day at Torchwood three."

Jack nodded and raised an enquiring eyebrow at Ianto. "Any chance of some coffee?" He asked.

Going back into his office, he sat down and slouched back into his chair, staring vacantly across his desk, there were so many things that simply didn't add up and multiple mobile phones was just one of them!

Once Owen had gone down into the autopsy room and she could hear him moving things around and swearing, Toshiko stood up and went into Jack's office.

"Do you really think it was Owen they were targeting?" She asked, a worried tone in her voice. "Only if it is, then they might try again and if they do..."

Jack glanced up at her, he'd been thinking along exactly the same lines. "Next time they might not fail."

She nodded. "But if that was your phone in the room," she paused, trying to make sense of things, "Then..."

"Then maybe he's not the only one they've got."

"But you're still here," she said, shaking her head.

"I somehow doubt that whoever does all that, would have trouble manipulating time, do you?"

Toshiko sighed. "Probably not." Then suddenly realising something, a worried expression on her face, she added. "That _is _our Owen who came back with us, right?"

He nodded. "He was always in sight of at least one of us, so yes, he has to be."

"But one day he might not be," she murmured, thinking but not saying _and neither might you_.

Jack laughed. "Are you seriously suggesting that there could be two people with this degree of perfection Toshiko Sato?"

She laughed, then turned away. whatever the facts of what had happened were, standing around gossiping wasn't going to prove them, one way or the other.

Ianto appeared, cup in hand, passing Toshiko as she left. He put it carefully down on Jack's desk, then waited until she was out of earshot before saying anything.

"I think that place is full of ghosts," he said quietly, deliberately not making eye contact.

"Probably," he murmured back, taking a sip of his drink, then cradling the cup. "or at least what you would call ghosts."

Raising his eyebrows, Ianto waited for more information, then realised that it clearly wasn't going to be forthcoming. "This something else that's on a need to know basis then?" He murmured.

"Something like that," he replied quietly, then put the cup back down on his desk. "So. Where were we?" He enquired, glancing speculatively up at the other man.

Ianto frowned slightly, as if he was trying to remember. "Well, it's been a while," he blinked. "Forty-eight seconds, if I remember correctly."

"Really?" Jack drawled back, then grinned. "You sure?"

Nodding briefly, he leaned closer to Jack. "'course if you don't think you can beat that..." His voice trailed off, a smile slowly forming on his face.

"Oh, I can beat that- no problem," he murmured back, smirking.

Suddenly getting to his feet, Jack marched out of his office. "Okay people, I think you should all go home and relax," he announced at the top of his voice.

"I thought you'd never get 'round to saying that!" Owen's voice echoed up from the autopsy room.

Gwen grinned, smirked at Ianto and then stood up. "I thought you might," she said, as she went to get her coat.

Toshiko stood up too, then nodded towards one of the screens. "I'll leave that running, in case it does pick anything up, but somehow I doubt it."

Jack stood, listening to the sounds of voices fading into the background, then the lights began to dim and he turned towards Ianto, who was standing in the doorway of his office, stopwatch in hand, finger hovering over the button on the top. "**Now**."

Jack sprinted towards him, laughing.

**The End**


End file.
